


Feels Like Home To Me

by agentsimmons



Series: The Many Adventures of Bear Banner-Stark [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 01:58:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony finally reveals his other surprise to Bruce, but maybe there's a saying about good intentions for a reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feels Like Home To Me

**Author's Note:**

> Basically my vision for Avengers Mansion is sat on a large property kind of like how they did with the new Avengers facility, but still an actual mansion and not just a converted warehouse. Sorry if the descriptions don't make sense. I actually tried to sketch up some floor plans and an awful doodle of the mansion to help me visualize it as I described it, but I don't know if it helped in the end.

The construction of Avengers Mansion was finally complete and ready for the interior nightmare to begin. It was almost surreal, Bruce thought, as he and Tony drove up to the property. They were there to inspect the mostly empty spaces and meet with the interior designers a little while later.

On the outside the building looked worlds different now that it was complete. The spacious mansion sat several yards back from the main entrance and security gate that surrounded the even more spacious property the mansion sat on. It was a strange mix of sleek and modern, since Tony had been involved, with a spectacular six levels above ground, not including the basements, and yet didn't feel like just another tower, like a replica of Tony's Malibu mansion or like a cold professional building. Rather, it still felt like a large, modern mansion of a home with extensive green grounds that also housed a pool, a garden, a tennis court and a hangar with room to spare.

But mostly Bruce just thought it was a little strange having been involved in the project from the beginning and seeing it now at this point. He'd never known that kind of feeling of really investing in a place to live.

They waited for the other Avengers to arrive, following shortly behind in another car, before getting out. Bruce opened the door to the back of their car. "Come on, Bear," he said, ushering the puppy out of the vehicle. He wasn't in a harness as they were at the point of his training where they were starting to trust him with more freedom in monitored areas. They had decided the gated safety of his soon to be new home was a good place to practice that.

"After so long in the tower, this is a little bizarre," Clint was the first to speak when they were all standing outside the mansion.

"It is," Steve agreed. "But it's still a good idea for the future of the team."

"Alright, enough deep introspection and nostalgia," Tony said, but Bruce knew well enough by now that it was Tony's way of deflecting those emotions from welling up in himself in front of the others. "Do we want to do a full tour as a group or just split up?"

No one really had any answer for that so they decided to start together as a group and see where they ended up.

They walked up the many stairs to the main entrance which was actually on the second floor of the six above ground. Bare as they were, the rooms on this main floor were still impressive. The kitchen was more luxurious than the communal kitchen at the tower and there was a formal dining space. There was an assembly room, there were a few offices, there was a small medical bay, there were of course bathrooms, and there was a formal living room that Bruce thought would probably be better for entertaining visitors than actually everyone lounging around.

The floor above was where the barracks for others to stay were located, whether those others were future recruits or guests or SHIELD agents Bruce didn't presume to know. All of them were simple with a small lounge and bedroom with private bath.

The floor above that housed what Bruce knew would be the most lived in area as it was the common floor. There was another lounge, a media room, the bar, a recreational room, and a party area. There was even a small three lane bowling alley that Tony had added when Hulk had apparently said in passing he wanted to bowl. Bruce had blinked several times, long and hard, at that because he couldn't imagine how Hulk had any understanding whatsoever of the concept until it dawned on him that one of the only recreational things he did during his early Harvard days was go bowling semi-regularly with the few friends he'd managed to make. He wasn't sure if Tony expected him to trigger a transformation and let the Hulk bowl at some point of another, but it was still a very thoughtful and a very _Tony_ gesture.

The three floors above that were each divided into two wings for the sake of two private apartments complete with kitchen, much like their private apartments were at the tower. They stopped the tour there as a group since nobody really cared about the first floor and underground floors which contained the the training area, the labs, Tony's workshop (which had a nifty hall of armory that led out beyond the mansion's main structure to a disguised area on the grounds where Tony could come and go in the suit), and the Hulk room.

Well, nobody except Tony seemed to care. When the others disbanded for their personal apartments Tony all but dragged Bruce down toward the elevator that led to those floors, Bear following at the command to heel.

"Please don't tell me you're already eager to christen the lab," Bruce teased as they went along.

"Well, I wasn't," Tony said in return, but Bruce could see the glint that passed briefly across his eyes before he refocused on whatever it was he was eager to do. When they finally reached the elevator to those floors, the engineer looked like he was ready to burst at the seams with restless energy.

Bruce wasn't sure if he was amused or confused so he gave his fiancé a look that was somewhere in between. "Tony, what is this about?"

Tony took in a deep breath and then his face was fixed with an expression that flittered along the border of 'you're going to love me' and 'you're going to hate me' which was always a bit of a terrifying notion with the billionaire. "Ok, so remember I said I had another surprise?"

Bruce furrowed his brow for a moment. "Oh, you mean back when we got Bear? I'd honestly forgotten about that," he admitted. "But yeah now that you mention it." He nodded. Tony exhaled sharply as they got onto the elevator. The door shut behind them, but Tony didn't make any move to press a button. "Okay so are we christening the elevator then or…?" Bruce looked around in confusion before his eyes settled on the buttons Tony wasn’t pushing. They widened and he looked back to Tony in time to see the sparkle of amusement in his eyes. "There's an extra floor."

"Astute as ever," Tony said with that same amusement before it turned into a somewhat nervous smile.

Bruce studied the buttons again. Each floor was labeled for the time being; he knew that Tony would come in and set up the mansion to be more secure with JARVIS and access codes later. But for the time being the first floor was not labeled training as he expected it to be, rather residence with training having been moved to the first sublevel instead. He hesitated a moment before pressing it.

When the elevator opened again, it opened onto a foyer that led to another door. Bruce gave Tony another confused glance before opening the door. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting on the other side, but a spacious apartment the size of an entire floor was not one of them.

"I don't understand," Bruce said genuinely as he walked further in and began looking around. Well, he understood, but he didn't at the same time.

"Well, it's not exactly rocket science," Tony said, sounding a little cautious as he did.

Bruce gave a soft snort. "Well, rocket science isn't far outside your domain so it might be," he countered.

"True. But I think it's fairly straightforward. There's a kitchen and dining area—"

"No, no, I get the concept." Bruce nodded.

It was hard not to as they walked around the space together. There was a kitchen and a dining area as Tony had already pointed out. There was a large living room. Off of the was an office. Past the kitchen was a hall to the left that accessed what Bruce guessed was a multipurpose room, two bedrooms with en suites, a bathroom, and two more bedrooms without en suites. Past the living room there was a short hall with access to the master bedroom on the right hand side, complete with luxurious master bath and closet. At the end of that same hall was another door that looked suspiciously like the door to the Hulk room, which gave Bruce further pause although that decidedly wasn’t where his mind was at.

No, his mind was on the space as a whole. It was on the implications of it. It was on the beating in his chest that wanted this to be real, wanted this to work.

"I know there aren't any picket fences…" Tony started hesitantly just behind him when they stopped in the master bedroom. Bruce turned quickly to look at the engineer, unsure of his emotions as he continued to consider the surprise.

"You… Tony, this is…" He still wasn't sure what it was. His heart was warm and tight at the sentiment even as his head screamed it was impractical, that this was _too_ normal for people like them. He looked down to see Bear sitting at their feet, wagging his tail as if challenging that voice in his head that said it was all too much. "We need to talk about this maybe," he finally settled on.

"Yeah, I know. I know I should have asked you. We should have planned it together. I just…" He sighed. "And technically there's the other apartment still if you say no to this," Tony offered quickly.

"I'm not mad," Bruce reassured just as quickly. "I'm not. That's not what I meant. I just… Tony, this is a lot. I love it, I do. But it just feels a little impractical."

Tony narrowed his eyes as if that didn't compute. "Impractical?"

Bruce sighed. "Okay, impossible."

Tony balked slightly at that. "In case you haven't noticed, I like to do the impossible," he pointed out. "I'm practically Walt Disney. Only, you know, I fight bad guys and blow shit up."

Bruce closed his eyes and shook his head fondly. Then the weight of everything fell over him again. "Four bedrooms?" He didn't open his eyes, but Tony's hands on his shoulders weren't too much of a surprise.

"Just in case," Tony said gently, hands smoothing down the length of his arms, as if it wasn't some life altering consideration.

Bruce opened his eyes again and frowned. "Tony, I want that more than... Almost more than anything," he whispered. "But it's not that easy." He shook his head. "Nobody is going to trust two men of our age and crazy lifestyle with kids. It's just not going to happen." He felt a lump in his throat and his voice became a little more on edge with emotion. "Fear of the Hulk alone would put a stop to it before any home inspection got off the ground. It's… Tony, _try_ to understand."

"There are other options," Tony said stubbornly and Bruce rolled his eyes slightly, turned and left the room. He knew Tony meant well and maybe, just maybe he was invested in the idea too now as ludicrous as that seemed - since he never guessed Tony would talk about this kind of thing seriously in he first place. He knew Tony cared about him and wanted to give him everything, but it wasn't fair because it could never happen no matter what either of them wanted. "We could have a surrogate," Tony stated, following after him.

Bruce turned on his heel. "Okay, that's great. And I'd be okay with that option since I get you need some kind of heir and all, but—"

"It's not like that," Tony replied sharply and Bruce winced.

"Alright, that was uncalled for. I'm sorry," he apologized. "But the point I was going to make is our child would still be in potential danger with us as parents. And any child protective service would see that and try to take our child away. I couldn't—" Bruce looked around the large space and something in him broke. He hung his head and turned his back to Tony. "I couldn't handle that," he said around the lump in his throat that felt like it had doubled.

Bear was suddenly in front of him, clearly sensing his emotions and looking up at him in obvious concern. Bruce all but collapsed to his knees and hugged their dog. Everything was still okay. He couldn't have the sum of what he had wanted, but it was okay. What still mattered most was he had Tony. Even when Tony didn't always think things through, it was still okay.

"I'm sorry," Tony apologized and Bruce could hear the sorrow there. He held out an arm to let Tony know he wasn't angry and the engineer knelt down beside him. "I got carried away. I guess I just… Something about having that with you seemed nicer than I had ever expected it to. So you know me. I went from zero to three hundred without thinking about the consequences. I didn't… Bruce, I swear I didn't mean to upset you. If it helps, I'm upset too now. Not as much, I'm sure, but…" His sentence trailed.

"I know," Bruce said, letting go of Bear and turning his head to look at Tony. "I just… I do want that, Tony so it does hurt. But I don't blame you. It's just a little harder knowing that you were okay with the idea, I guess. Before I just took for granted that…" He let his own sentence trail and looked at Tony apologetically.

Tony sighed. "I'm an engineer. I should be able to fix this. I'm Tony Stark. I should be able to make anything happen," he said in clear anger aimed at himself, or maybe aimed at the world. Bruce didn't know how else to respond to that other than to rest his temple against Tony's, knowing they both needed the reassurance of contact. "Do you want to go upstairs then and look at that apartment?" Tony asked after a moment of silence.

Bruce let his eyes dart around the living room and toward the kitchen before he closed them. In spite of the pain in his chest at the thought of empty rooms and their intention, he didn't want to leave the space. Something about it had felt right from the moment they'd entered it. There was still sweet mingled with the bitter. Something about it felt like proverbial picket fences if not the same kind.

"No," he said finally, pulling away from Tony and turning completely to look at him.

Tony furrowed his brow. "No? I mean I'm not complaining, but are you sure?"

Bruce took a deep breath and nodded. "This still feels like home, Tony. It might not make sen—"

His words were cut short by Tony's lips against his own and Bruce melted into the kiss. In that moment he knew that as long as they were together he would be home, here or anywhere.

"Is that another Hulk room on the other side of that door?" Bruce asked with a small smile when they finally pulled apart.

"Yeah. Figured it didn't make sense for you to always have to trek a hundred miles," he said with a shrug. "Seemed like a good idea."

"Well, it's an idea," Bruce replied teasingly. "But I get the distinct impression that he'll appreciate the gesture." Then he paused. "And for the record, I do too. I think…" He gave a small smile. "No matter what happens, I think everything will be fine."

Tony smiled and pressed their foreheads together. "It will be. And you never know, babe. Maybe a miracle will happen."

Bruce knew what he meant and his heart blossomed with traitorous hope against all logic. Still something in Tony's eyes made him want to lose himself to it. Then he realized he had already lost himself to whatever future they might create together.

"Maybe," Bruce whispered in spite of himself and captured Tony's lips again.

**Author's Note:**

> Title and light inspiration from "Feels Like Home" by Chantal Kreviazuk (although I also listened to the Bryan Adams/Dianna Krall version a lot too). 
> 
> Before anyone freaks out and thinks "oh no don't go there!" about this series turning into an adoption fic, kidfic, science family or anything of that nature, no worries yet. I haven't a clue if it will ever get to that point and I'm not even sure I want to take that on even in this verse (although I adore Tony and Bruce as dads as a concept so it's not because of that by any means - though even if it did go there, it would not be Peter). I just felt like this was a loose thread that needed to be tied up since past pieces have brought up the children aspect and since this was always the surprise that I had in mind in Hulk Hearts Puppies (Tony basically having a _Marley and Me_ moment where he realizes 'oh god I think I actually want the full on domesticity and kids thing with this man'). 
> 
> Also, I felt that they needed to have a slightly more serious moment discussing a serious issue that most couples discuss. It's something Bruce wants and with them getting married I felt like he needed to know where Tony stands on that while at the same time Tony needed to slow down and realize it's a sore subject for Bruce who obviously sees it practically. They just needed to discuss it even if it's not pretty. But since it's this verse I of course wanted to give that little bit of hope at the end that maybe it can work out at some point in the future, while having the emphasis remain on what matters most being that Bruce and Tony are together. Thus, I hope it ties that thread up while leaving it to the imagination should this series never make a future with kids explicit for the two of them.


End file.
